Three bluff masters in police custody

Police on Sunday busted a three-member gang that cheated citizens by diverting their attention and then escaping with their suitcase or other valuables.

bhopalUpdated: Mar 04, 2013 15:19 IST

HT Correspondent

Hindustan Times

Police on Sunday busted a three-member gang that cheated citizens by diverting their attention and then escaping with their suitcase or other valuables.

The tricksters, Tilak Rattamalai, 37, Karthikeyan Subramanian, 37, and Sarvan, 24, hail from a village in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu (TN). This gang has so far confessed its involvement in three incidents here. A laptop, other stolen goods and some cash has been recovered from them.

The gang’s way of committing the crime was that one of them would tell a person, particularly a motorist, that he had dropped his currency. While the person came out of the car to pick up the few notes or to check whether it was his money, from the other side, the other gang member would take away the briefcase or bag from the four-wheeler and escape.

The superintendent of police (SP), south, Anshuman Singh said the accused hail from a particular village in Tamil Nadu which is known for being a den of several other such cheating gangs.

“The modus operandi is such that the gang members mostly dupe people near railway station (like Hamidia Road close to the Bhopal station or MP Nagar which is not far from Habibganj railway station) and then board a train to leave the city,” Singh said.

The SP said as the gang does not stay in any city for long, it is tough for the police to nab them. The tricksters generally struck near parking lots and people were regularly getting conned in Bhopal. Many other cases of cheating by similar tricks are yet to be solved.

The additional superintendent of police (ASP) Dharmvir Singh said that public awareness is necessary for checking such a crime.

The gang hails from a village under Ramji Nagar police station in Tiruchirapalli. There are some other tricksters who hail from the same place. The police officials say when teams are sent to catch any of the accused, the teams do not get adequate cooperation from their counterparts in Tamil Nadu.

Besides, there are many pending warrants against suspects hailing from the same place in similar cases, said the police. The accused are being questioned. The police officials will send a team on the basis of leads obtained from the accused to arrest other gang members who are involved in similar crimes in Bhopal in the recent past.